Volkswagen Polo GT Safety Features & Transmission

OVERVIEW ;

The hatchback market in India has always been a popular one, especially among the middle class people, who form a large section of the crowd. Volkswagen Polo GT is one of the popular hatchbacks in the country. There are lots of Volkswagen Polo GT variants to choose from that offer different sets of features and are available at different prices.

DESIGN AND STYLE ;

The exterior styling of the Polo GT TSi isn’t very different from that of regular Polo. The changes are very minor and the easiest way to determine the difference is by spotting the GT and GT TSi badges around the car. The other difference on the GT TSi are the new alloy wheels, black-colours wing matters and the black-coloured spoiler. The Polo GT comes in multiple colours, though the best one is the red that has been retained from the first-launched Polo. That is the best colour we will recommend to get the Polo in. The Polo GT looks a lot more sporty than the regular Polo. Check On Road Price of Polo GT

The Polo still looks fresh in design and with its new chrome additions, it still looks upmarket. The German automaker’s paint quality just makes the Polo look so good and adds to the premium-ness. The red colour that our GT TDI came in, is not available on the regular Polo. The Polo doesn’t fail to appeal to us. The regular Polo looks premium in styling, and looks best in the blue colour. The alloy wheels add some more styling to the Polo. CABIN AND COMFORT ;

The interiors of the German car are also similar in design to that of the regular Polo. But now the car gets an all-black dashboard with a piano black finish centre console, instead of the dual-tone dashboard in the regular Polo. The car comes with dual-tone seats. The GT gets a flat bottomed steering wheel with audio Bluetooth and voice command controls integrated in them. The car gets GT doorstep garnish as well.

The new Polo GT TDI comes with ambient lighting, aluminium pedals, automatic air-conditioning, a Monochrome Multi-Function Display, a music player with USB, AUX-in, CD and SD card inputs and 4 speakers. Bluetooth Connectivity and Voice Command are also available. Exchange your old car for Polo GT

ENGINE AND PERFORMANCE ;

Volkswagen is betting big on downsizing the world over and the Polo GT TSI uses one of those engines which are part of this strategy. The 1.2-litre TSI mill is insanely awesome and needs little introduction, we had a gala of a time with our long term Vento TSI. The turbocharged mill thrusts out 105 PS at 5000 RPM and 175 Nm between 1500-4100 RPM, with those kind of torque numbers, the GT TSI puts even bigger petrol engines to shame. Start the engine and you will be spellbound by the NVH or rather the lack of it. The powerplant is so refined, there is absolutely nothing to be heard. In spite of that, the motor is very quick to make progress, it has a fantastic punch in all parts of the powerband – low, mid and top although top-end rush could have been better.

Driving the car in the city is a relaxing ordeal, the motor is quick to respond when you need it and the 7-speed DSG automatic transmission works its magic to keep the vehicle in the right cog at all times. When driven sedately, there is no hint of the forced induced beast which powers the Polo GT but give it the beans and the world transforms. The GT TSI takes off with urgency and hits triple digit speeds in a jiffy. While VW claims a 0-100 km/hr time of 9.7 seconds, the best we could record on our VBOX was 10.09 seconds, putting the GT TSI on par with the GT TDI in terms of outright acceleration. The problem with the GT is that the gearbox won’t let it rev more than 1200 RPM at standstill. Thus when you launch the car, there is some bit of lag which robs crucial milli seconds from the 0-100 km/hr time.

As the above table shows, the GT TSI is faster at the top-end thanks to it having a good punch near the redline which comes in quite early at just under 6000 RPM. Although the tachometer shows redline at 6500 RPM, the GT seldom crosses the 6000 RPM mark with only first gear seeing the motor rev till 6200 RPM. There are three driving modes, D for drive, S for Sports and tiptronic function which let’s you shift gears on your own (there are no paddles!). In D mode the gearbox takes it easy, shifting early and as per throttle inputs, on full throttle it swaps gears at around 5500 RPM while in S mode the motor pulls to around 6000 RPM. In manual mode the gearbox remains in the lowest gear and won’t upshift till redline but if you don’t give full throttle, it won’t downshift. Gears will automatically change in manual mode if you fail to do so.

The 7-speed DSG unit offers slick shifts and shows the urgency you would want from a performance car. The Turbocharged Stratified Injection is itself fast revving and becomes audible post 3000 RPM, creating an addictive note post 4500 RPM. 100 km/hr comes up in third gear and you can comfortably cruise in top gear at 100 km/hr with the tachometer ticking in at just 2100 RPM. The vehicle pulls very quickly to 140 km/hr (it does 150 km/hr in fourth gear) and post that progress is a bit tamed although given the road, the GT TSI will easily top out at 190 km/hr. When you turn on the car, the cluster reminds you to put your foot on the brake to engage gear, in spite of that one can change between N, D and tiptronic without touching the button on the lever. With our heavy foot and redlining day and night, the GT TSI returned a respectable mileage of 9 km/l. Driven sedately, this car will easily give double digit numbers.

RIDE AND HANDLING ;

Jokes apart, driving the GT TSi is great. It behaves well when you want it to and even returns a good fuel mileage. That does depend on your driving style as well. The more you push it, the more visits you gotta make to the gas station. Yes, you will have fun pushing it, but that can be quite pricey on the pocket. The brakes can be quite touchy. Press the pedal and there is a definitive lag in the bite. At speeds you may be coming up on a car pretty quick and you may ease on the brakes to slow down the GT TSi but it doesn’t till you press quite hard on the pedal, and instead of gradually bringing the car to a halt kind does it with an unwanted jerk.

One aspect that I was quite disappointed with was the way the GT TSi corners. Though I was at 90km/hr, the car seemed very wallowy while taking a corner. There is a certain confidence level on gets when throwing a car around a corner; I guess the GT TSi has a different learning curve. Cornering in the VW does feel quite soft and nowhere close to sharp. Nonetheless, if you do have a long straight stretch and barely any traffic, be sure to put the car in manual, ride every gear to the red-line before you shift and watch the speedometer hit 190kmph! Now that is something fun to do in a car that has a badge saying GT TSI.

SAFETY ;

Last year when it was reported that some of the most popular compact cars sold in India failed crash tests done by Global NCAP, almost immediately Volkswagen announced dual front airbags as standard fitment on all variants of the Polo. That says something about the company’s commitment to safety. The GT TSI gets ample safety features such as dual front airbags as standard, anti-lock braking system, rear-parking sensors, electronic stabilisation programme and hill-hold function. However, we believe that in addition to rear-parking sensors there should have been a rear-parking camera too.

BOTTOMLINE ;

The price tag of Rs 8.08 lakh is slightly on the higher side, considering the fact that the only major change is the bigger engine. But then it is actually not Volkswagen’s fault – the 1.6-litre engine means it does not qualify as a small car as per the Indian tax regime and you have plenty of options that are bigger and yet fit the bill at the price point. The top-end Maruti Suzuki Dzire and Honda Amaze with extra boot space are available for a lower price tag, but neither would match the GT TDI in performance and handling. And that is the reason why it has been launched as a sort of a limited edition model. This is not for those looking for the biggest car their money can buy, but for those looking at a quick, convenient hatchback with benefits of a diesel